


Reunion

by Oriki-Miitad (Sneaking_UnicornWitch)



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Emotional, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Family Reunions, Found Family, Intentional Kid Acquisition, Is It Found Family If They’re Genetically Identical?, Other, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneaking_UnicornWitch/pseuds/Oriki-Miitad
Summary: Waxer had once thought it mighty unfair that Torrent got to keep their kid.This is why.Ryloth is the first time Waxer almost acquires a kid. But only because on Kamino he'd actually gone through with it.
Relationships: Boil/Waxer (Star Wars), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Waxer/Boil/Longshot (Star Wars)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a line in the Soft Wars fic Family Matters, by the wonderfully talented Projie:  
>  _“Wait,” Waxer rallies first, and he rounds on Cody filled with righteous betrayal. “Wait Torrent gets to keep their kids with them? Commander!”_. 
> 
> And so my brain immediately suggested this.  
> Basically, cadet acquisition, this time it’s the CTs. And regulations ruin all the fun.

The newly formed 212th Attack Battalion were loitering on one of Kamino’s larger landing pads, waiting for the General to arrive with their ship so they could head off and join the fight.

Everybody’s visors very carefully slipped off the small cadet being comforted off to one side of the main crowd, his sniffly crying just about audible despite the hum of chatter. If they didn’t see it they didn’t have to do anything about it.

“Hey, hush there, Seventate. It’ll be okay.”

Waxer could feel his heart cleaving in two. When as a fourth cycle cadet he’d taken a thirdie, a fair few years younger than he was, under his wing he’d not given a second’s thought to having to leave them behind. 

“B-but you’re l-l-leaving! What if I nev-never s-see you again! What if-” Huge hiccoughing sobs broke his words up, broke Waxer’s heart. And even through the hard plastoid of his shoulder bell he swore he could feel the clench of Boil’s fingers; he knew his more stoic _vod_ was finding this hard too.

“'What Ifs' don’t win the war, kid. It’s alright to miss us, Seventate. I’m really going to miss you, _vod’ika_. I can’t promise we’ll meet again, but you remember what we say about the brothers that leave us, right?”

“N-not gone, merely ma-a-arching away.” The younger clone’s cries began to soften, just a hitching of his shoulders and gulps of air now. 

“Good. Oh, come here littlun.” Waxer said as he pulled Seventate onto his squatting legs and set a kiss to the boy’s hair before settling his chin on top of the dark curls. 

He could hear Boil talking to the cadet, bolstering words of advice, and could feel them calming the younger boy down even more. “You are strong, Seventate. Be the best you possibly can. Keep your brothers safe, and always eat your protein cubes. Don’t go getting into mischief.”

“Some interesting regs you’ve got there Boil” he chanced, and got a cuff about the back of his hair for the trouble. Waxer just about kept his balance, narrowly avoiding spilling Seventate and himself onto the duracrete. 

He could hear the thrum of activity pick up, and knew they didn’t have much longer together. “Listen, kid. You’re my brother, my _vod’ika,_ and your answer won’t ever change that. But, how’d you like to be my _ad,_ huh? I’ll hold it in my heart and you’ll hold it in yours.”

Arms thrown tight around his neck, squeezing just on the manageable side of hard, as Seventate breathed an awed “Really?” He bounced, “I’ve never been someone’s _ad_ before!”

“It’ll be something we can share even when we’re so far apart, okay. Something for us.” Waxer was glad his _vod’ika_ had stopped his crying, though he was sure the moment of actual separation was going to break the two - no, three - of them all over again. 

“ _Ni kyr'tayli gai sa'ad_ , Seventate.” Waxer wasn’t fluent in standard Mando’a like the Command Classes, but enough of it had spread to the ceetees, especially as they got older and specialised. But Seventate’s non-response meant that obviously that one hadn’t trickled down far enough to reach the littluns. “It means, I know your name as my child.”

He could only be impressed by Seventate’s grip as the hold round his neck clutched harder once he understood. His _ad_ , **his** _ad,_ was going to do just fine.

Boil let them have a few moments more, before he tapped on the cadet’s back. “Well done kid. Now scram before Waxer sneaks you into his pack. It’s time to go.”

The younger clone hopped off Waxer’s lap and slowly walked across to the internal door, looking back at them every so often. As he was almost at the door he about faced and streaked back across the wet duracrete towards them, nearly bowling the two of them over as he flung his arms around them.

“I love you, Waxer. I love you, Boil,” the kid blurted out from his place as the filling in one very lumpy sandwich. 

Boil’s voice was choked with emotion as he got out a “We love you too, Seventate.” He ruffled a hand through the younger clone’s hair, carding his fingers through the short lengths.

“So much. We love you so much,” Waxer agreed. “But now you really do need to go.” They could hear the ear-crushing thrum of the ship’s engines approaching, although nothing was yet visible through the driving rain.

He hugged Seventate one last time before pushing him away in the direction of the doors. Once the cadet got there he turned around again, with Boil muttering an ‘if he runs back again I’m just gonna keep him’. But instead the cadet flung up a watery salute before he scurried through the doors and out of view. 

Not one of the clones around them had a dry eye, though they were all trying very hard to not make eye contact. Then their General arrived, the Venator ready for them, and the two clones with all their new brothers in the 212th were busy loading up and heading off to the front, wherever that happened to be. 

*****

During the war Waxer’s lowly lieutenant status had meant he’d not been able to check on clone postings outside of the Attack Battalion. He was sure the Commander - his _Alor_ , now - would have helped him look the information up, and - if not him - then the bleeding heart on legs of his General almost certainly would have.

But he’d been too scared to, he supposed. Scared to find out for certain if his _ad_ had wound up serving under the bad ones, or had gone marching on ahead, or hadn’t even made it off Kamino. General Ti had put a stop to most of it, but ‘accidents’ still happened. 

So he had stayed purposefully in the dark, stuck in a limbo of no intel, all the way until they had all been called Home. Now, the information was freely available. Brothers could find batchers again, thought lost through specialisations and distance and the blockade. 

It had taken a while for him to work up the _gett’se_ to check the new system for the details of his brother’s deployment. Eventually Boil had frog-marched him to a terminal and held his shoulders down until he tapped in the designation he could never forget even if he tried. 

Designation: CT-81-278

~blink~blink~blink~ went the display as it populated the fields. Waxer scanned the screen and he could feel the warm heat of Boil’s breaths as the other man leaned in close behind him to read what it said.

Name: Pokkit

He’d got a _name_. Seventate had been a placeholder of sorts, somewhere between number and callsign, and while some _vode_ rolled that into a name of their own, it warmed Waxer’s heart that his kid had found a name for himself. He just wondered the story behind it.

Status: Alive; Current Location: Concord Dawn

Oh thank the stars. Waxer felt just like he’d taken off his gear after a long day’s ruck. Just the knowledge that their boy was with them, had made it Home, hadn’t been left behind on some no-name planet.

Rank: Corporal

“Our boy made Corporal!” Waxer shouted. “Boil, can you believe it!”

“Stow it, Wax. I’m reading just the same thing you are. Shut up and lemme concentrate.”

Waxer carried on reading down the screen.

Previous Posting: 13th Battalion

“I-is that… good? Would he have been-? Or like that _shabuir_ Krell?”

“One of the good ones, I think.” Boil reassured him quickly. “Not one we worked with I don’t think, but I never heard anything messy about their General or anything.”

Waxer’s heart hadn’t quite slowed from its staccato beat in his chest, and he concentrated on mimicking his range breathing until he felt it begin to normalise. 

“Do you think he wants to hear from us? What if he’s forgotten us? What if he-” he began to spiral.

Boil kissed the back of his neck, “You know 'What Ifs' don’t win the war, Wax. Just send him a comm and see.”

It took no time at all to send a ping, a request for comm permissions, through the re-purposed GAR networks. Now all they had to do was wait. 

*****

Waxer’s fears had been unfounded, Seventate - no, his name was Pokkit now - had commed back almost immediately and they’d arranged to meet just outside the main dock for the light rail in a few days’ time. The rotations had flown by.

The three of them stood outside the entrance to the dock, clammy hands clasped together as their eyes scanned the crowd of _vode_ milling around. The minutes ticked by and Waxer began to feel disheartened, a surety growing that Pokkit wasn’t coming. But then Boil’s hand pulsed around his and he turned to see a younger clone charging through the streams of people.

Hair a little floppy, obviously only just growing out from a regulation cut, was about the only intel Waxer could gather about the other man running at full pelt into him, arms wrapping tight around him.

It had been years, hard-fought years, where his _ad’ika_ had flourished from the small fourth cycle cadet who could sit on his knee into a strong lad the same height as he was. And yet, when Waxer held out his arms and they fell into a hug, his _ad_ ’s head still fit under his chin, tucked into his chest. 

“Someone round here’s making some karking _hetikleyc_ food,” Boil choked out through his tears, hauling Longshot and the two of them into a tight embrace. 

Waxer held onto his family a little longer before he finally said, “Come on then, Pokkit. Seems like we’ve got some catching up to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [here](https://oriki-miitad.tumblr.com/), come say hi!
> 
> Meet Pokkit :D  
>   
> Made using [this picrew](https://picrew.me/image_maker/326758)


End file.
